Christmas Time Is Here: Academy Exclusives

Hidden in Plain Sight

Kota ran his hand over his head and studied the large box that was now sitting in the middle of the entry hallway. What was he supposed to do with it now? It's not like he could just leave it where it was. That would totally ruin the Christmas surprise for his mom.

But he hadn't thought enough about wrapping such a large box. Hadn't considered how to move it after delivery, let alone where to hide it so his mom wouldn't see it.

It's not like she'd asked for a new microwave for Christmas but after a really bad someone who may or may not be known as Sean Green stuck a spoon in the microwave and caused a short in the system and a blow out of their old microwave a month ago, it was necessary.

Jessica needed to be able to heat food on her own if no one was around to cook. He'd even noticed the non microwave cooking was a long drawn out process and no one wanted to wait for that long for dinner.

"What's that?" Jessica asked, skidding to an abrupt halt in the hallway before she slammed into the box.

"Mom's Christmas present." He sad, giving his 10-year-old sister a wary glance. "You'll keep the secret, right?"

"What is it?"

"A new microwave." Kota said.

Her eyes lit up. "of course, I'll keep it a secret. How are you going to wrap it?"

"I don't know."

"How you gonna move it?"

Kota blew out a breath. "Again, I don't know."

"Oh." Jessica tilted her head for a moment before pushing her glasses up. "Maybe the guys could come over and help move it?" she suggested.

Kota was about to tell her to leave him alone but the suggestion was a good one and deserved his consideration. "That's a great idea, Jess. Thanks."

She grinned at him before whistling for Max so that she could let their dog out into the backyard. "And just another idea, since I'm apparently on a roll... you could hide it under the TV table in the corner and then just wrap the whole table. If you wrap other random things in the living room, we could just tell her that we thought it would be fun to do that as a method of decorating this year."

Kota raised his head, his eyes wide with surprise. "You're right. That's a brilliant idea. She'd totally let us do that anyway since she's been working so much."

"Exactly. Do you think that maybe Owen or Sean would be coming over to help you out? And if they are, do you think one of them could take me to the mall to get my shopping done?" she asked.

"I can ask. I don't know if either of them have time today but I'm sure they'd be happy to figure out a time for you to go shopping before Christmas." Kota said.

"Thank you." Jessica smiled before she headed off to the kitchen where Max was now standing at the backdoor, waiting to be let out into the yard.

Kota pulled out his phone and sent a message in the group chat they were all a part of, asking his friends, closer than brothers, to come over for the afternoon to help him move the box and take care of hiding it as well. He didn't have to wait for too long before they started replying and letting him know they'd be happy to come over for the afternoon. He sent a quick message to his mom, asking if it was okay for them to have a sleepover tonight, seeing as they were all on Christmas break from school. After he got her reply that she was going to be stuck working a double shift and that was fine with her as long as no one burned the house down, then he let them all know to bring their stuff and tell their adults that they wouldn't be home until some point the next day.